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Author Glenn Stanton penned an editorial for Fox News the other day that asked a very good question: Is Christianity really shrinking?
If you listen to the mainstream media, you’d get the idea that is precisely the case.
However, the statistics from Pew Research Center show otherwise, as Stanton points out.
He did note that attendance at what I call legacy churches has declined significantly in the past 10 years by up to 7.5 million people. However, at non-denominational and Bible-preaching churches, the chairs are full — something I have noticed myself in traveling around the nation.
Stanton cited Pew statistics that showed only 3 percent of Americans claim to be atheist and another 4 percent consider themselves agnostic, as I once was.
Social media and “conventional wisdom” will claim that people are becoming more secular, but researchers discovered that only people with moderate faith are on the decline. Those who maintain an intense faith are persistent in numbers.
Moderate faith is not enough to sustain anyone. As Jesus himself noted in Revelation 3:15-16, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
In these uncertain times, there really is little need for people who want to sit comfortable on the sidelines.
Stanton expands on this in his book The Myth of the Dying Church: How Christianity is Actually Thriving in America and the World. I look forward to reading it.
The full story can be found at www.foxnews.com.
